Christine Marriott
River Falls, WI
I lived in the south, born in 1956. I saw awful things as a little white girl from a racist dysfunctional family. They taught me how not to be. Maybe it was because they treated me like they treated black people. My school was segregated early. I got in so much trouble when I brought my friend home for lunch in 2nd or 3rd grade. The neighbors told on me. When my friend plaited my hair, my mother told me how ugly I was and cut off all my hair. I remember thinking, if these people in my family feel superior then I don’t want to be. I knew they were wrong about me, so they must be wrong about blacks, If they were right in some way I reasoned, I would rather be nothing like them anyway. I am grateful for their horrible example because then I could look for truth.
